![](https://csdc-cecd.ca/fr/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/11/Poster-Peterson-642x336.jpg)
Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir Michael Bang Peterson comme conférencier au séries de conférences
Vendredi 19 février 2016
Prof. Michael Bang Petersen (Aarhus University)
Salle 406, Thomson House, McGill University
14h00-15h00 pm
“The Design of the Political Mind: Evolution and the (Ir)Rationality of Modern Politics »
Tous sont bienvenus, admission gratuite
La conférence sera suivie d’une réception.
Nous diffuserons la conférence en ligne au: https://connect.mcgill.ca/r7fmip91a3e/.: https://connect.mcgill.ca/r7fmip91a3e/
Résumé: In order to understand how modern citizens think and feel about politics, we need to understand what their political minds were designed for. In science there is only one explanation for functional biological design: evolution by natural selection. In this talk, I will discuss and illustrate how evolution designed the human mind to help our ancestors navigate in the politics of small-scale groups and how this design of the political mind continues to shape modern politics. Perhaps surprisingly, much irrationality in modern politics is a direct consequence of a mind that is extremely well-designed for the politics of the past.
Bio:
Michael Bang Petersen is Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. He received his PhD from Aarhus University in 2007 and did postdoctoral research at the UCSB Center for Evolutionary Psychology. His research focuses on how the adaptive challenges of human evolutionary history shape the way modern citizens think about mass politics. This research has been published in journals such as American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics and Psychological Science. He co-directs The Politics and Evolution Lab, a research lab dedicated to the intersection of evolutionary psychology and political science.
Cette série de conférences est financée par le Centre pour l¹étude de la Citoyenneté démocratique (https://csdc-cecd.ca/) lui-même financé par le Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC).